Roofing cleat



Sept, 13', 1921. 1,642,088

T. M. SCARFF ROOFING CLEAT Filed July. 21 124 I cleatQ Patented Sept.13, 1927.

ran-Man- M. scnnn'r, or srnme VIALLEYLOHIO.

ROOFING GLEA'I.

Application ar a July 21,

My invention relates to roofing andmore particularly to an anchor cheator batten for securing. sheet roofing in 'lace and the method ofapplying and 'ancli oring overlapping roofing sheets. by means of suchcleats or battens. i y

In the present invention, superposed overlapping roofing sheets aresecured in place by means of spacedcleats or batte s, which overlie theexposed portions of such roofing sheet, firmly holding the sheet fla'tupon the roof fpreventing their being raised or torn by the wind andpreventing entrance of moisture. The Q. pos'itfe ends of thecleats orbattens throng J'Which they are nailed to the roof are concealed andprotected by the succeeding rooting sheet. The cleats or battens -co1nprise strips of sheet'metafl or other suitable material, sufficientlystill and in flexible throughout fthe' gr'eater portion of theirlengthto, resist bendingmovement but having that, flexible e'nds;.' Thesecleats or battens are preferably though not necessarily, reinforced andstrengthened by being 7 longitudinally corrugated, such corrugationterminating inspaced relation with the ends 01' the strip. The ,cleat orbatten thus formed is of inverted channel shape, and is applied with itsfco'ncave side downward, contacting the roofing sheet along its. margin,and enclosing therebeneath a bold-y of air, thus preventing theabcu'mulati'on and retention of moisture bcneaththe retaining The lowerendofsuch cleats are upturned and secured; beneath the roofing sheet,while theupper portion of the cleat extends across. the exposed portionoi the overlapping roofing "sheet and is secured beneath the succeedingsheet. The exposed portion of the overlapping ro fing {sheet subjectedtov extremes of temperature is thus held securely in place but free forexpansion and contraction. The anchor c-leatsare arranged in spacedrelation with those pertaining to succeeding overlapping sheets 0 set orstaggered in relation with those se-,

curing adjacent sheets fving the effect, of a shingle roof with thecleats, defining the width of the shingles and representing theintervening s aces; i v

The object of theinvfent'ion is to improve the method of applying sheetroofin m te ial wher y such were m m tin will be A i. l i 'str ting reefwin not only be 1 24.. Serial v n). 729339; I

efficient in use; of increased durability, capable of being-easily andrapidly laid, and unlikely to get out of repair.

A further ob'ect of the invention is to provide means for securing sheetroofing wherein all attachment nails will be conreeled and protectedfrom the weather and wherein the exposed portion of theoverlapfping'shets will be free to expand and contract withoutsubjecting the attachment nails to strain. or tea'irihgthe'roofinenlargin'g" the nail; holes or otherwise ucing l 1 1 A in their objectof 'the'invention is to p oves a roofing 'clea'awhich while-strong andresistant 'willpossess minimum Contact surface with the'roofing sheet;thereby Infinm'rzing the retention of moisture and deterioration of theroofing sheethene'aththe cleat. f I

A further object of the invention is to provide as an article ofmanufacture, an

improved form of roofing chat or batten.

A further object. of the invention is to provide an improved method oflaying sheet roofing as herein described and to further provide aroofing which will have the general appearance of a shingle root.

With the above primary an other inc idental objects in V-lfijV as Willmore fully ap e -in the specification, the invention consists of thefeatures of construction, the

par s an m i ations her f and the inode of operation; or'theirequivalents as hereinafter described and set forth in the claim I v IReferring to the accompanying drzmrings wherein is shown the preferred,but; oho ly' n ne ss r ly t e only rm. f embodiment of the in ention,Fig. 1 is a perspective view-of a portion of a root struc t'ureillustrating different stages or steps in e'methoi o pply g s eetroofi gy the y' ln he imp o e fn-esent' process 'emp or'mvo f .-'anhor cleat orbatten. Fig. 2 is an, enlarged detail sectional view of a sucaccessi nsf s erp sed v rlapp n roofing sheets, appli d by th present m hod an heuse of the batten or '(rlea 't. 3- i Y a %rspe(5tive view of a batten ord n before .e i appli d to e. o Fe 4 i lustrates di, rent r of the c 5sandman. perspect e ew-fi hiaherxn eieeion showing sand 'cleat til)having attachment ends of reduced thickness. Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate afurther modification wherein a hollow cleat is filled with asphalt, orthe like, and the attachment nails are driven through the exposedportion of the cleat.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughoutthe several views.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 is an ordinary building roof coveredwith the usual sheeting boards 2, on which is laid the artificial sheetroofing. Commercial sheet roofing is made in a great many styles andqualities. The usual basis of such roofing, however, is a felt saturatedin asphalt and covered with round slate, small gravel or other silicapressed into the asphalt saturated felt. Such sheet roofing is flexiblein character and ordinarily is sold commercially in rolls. However, theparticular characteristics of the roofing per se forms no part of thepresent invention. In the pre sent instance, this roofing of what evercharacter is laid in strips. These strips may be produced'by cutting thecommercial rolled roofing longitudinally. At the present time, suchroofing is commercially sold in widths of thirty-two to thirty-sixinches. Such standardized roofing is preferably split into two equalstrips, by cutting the roll in halves. These strips are laid insuperposed overlapping relation as shown at 3, 4t and 5. The strips areextendedtransversely across the roof, that is at right angles to itsdirection of inclination, and are overlapped one upon the other, toexpose to the weather, a little less than one half the width of eachstrip. By this construction, the roof is of double thickness, exceptalong the margins of the overlapping superposed strips, where it is oftriple thickness, since each roofing strip extends for a short distanceof an inch or two beyond the margin of the second succeeding strip asindicated at 6.

The cleats or battens 7, by which the roofing strips are held insuperposed relation are preferably narrow strips of galvanized iron,zinc, copper or other suitable sheet metal. However, these battens orcleats may be made of fiber, composition, reinforced asphalted felt, orother suitable material having the requisite stiffness or rigidity toresist warping, and the characteristic of resisting atmospheric andclimatic condition. The cleats or battens 7 when of sheet metal arepreferably longitudinally corrugated 0rcontour of the reinforcementcorrugations or channels may be varied as shown in Fig, 4. Suchcorrugation orchannel may be of inverted V shape as shown atlO, or maybe of'oval or circular form as at 11, or in lieu of these shapes themargins of the cleat or batten. may be downturned or flanged as at 12.Different shapes of the corrugations or reinforcement channel of thecleats may be utilized to afford variety of appearances of the roofapplied in this manner. The purpose of corrugations or channels .in anyevent is the stiffening and reinforcement of the sheet or batten. Thismight be achieved by making the cleat or batten of increased thickness,sufiieient to resist bending strain,

with its ends flattened or reduced in thick ness, shown at 13 in 5.

In applying the roofing, a plurality of the cleats or battens are nailedin inverted spaced relation as shown at 14 in Fig. 1, by driving thenails 15 through the fiat flexible ends 9, and through the underlyingroofing strip. The succeeding roofing strip is then placed in positionwith its lower and exposed margin overlapping the nailed cleats orbattens. The attached ends of the cleats or battens and the nails arethus concealed and protected from weather beneath the margins of theoverlying roofing strip 5'. The cleats or battens 7 are then turnedupwardly and backwardly over the superposed roofing strip 5, theattached extremity 8 of the strio being bent upon itself to parallelismwith the bight enclosing the margin of the superposed strip of sheetroofing. The

reverse end of the cleat or batten is then secured by a nail 16 driventherethrough and through the roofing sheet 5 at a point beyond themarginal line of the sue-ceding roofing sheet or strip. The cleats orbattens pertaining to each succeeding roofing strip are offset orstaggered, that is to say, those holding each strip are placed mid-waybetween the spaced cleats of the precceding,

strip. While the reinforced cleats or battens are sufiiciently stiff andrigid to clamp the exposed portion of each roofing strip or sheet inplace, such exposed or overlapping portions of the roofing sheet are notpositively attached, but are capable'of expansion and contraction undervarying temperature conditions without expanding the cleat or strainingits attachment. hen such sheet roofing is nailed through the exposedportion of the sheet, thebiickling and wrinkling of the sheet whenexpanded by summer heat or the contraction and strain of the sheet whencontracted during winter weather, not only strains the attachment nails,but tends to enlarge the nail hole, inducing leakage. The presentmethodof applying the roofing overcomes this difficulty and obviates thedanger ofleakage by clamping the exposed portion of the overlappingsheets in place,

with sufficient pressure to prevent them from being raisedor'distorted'bythe wind and to preventthe entrance of. moisturethereunder, yet leaving such exposed overlappng portions sufiicientlyfree to compensateffor expansion and contraction. Moreover, inasmuch asthe attachment nails are in every instance concealed and protected bythe superposed roofing strip, any enlarged'nail holes. will 'beprotected against the entrance of moisture and the attachment nails areprotected'againstrust and corrosion.

With the use otsolid cleats or battensas muinyandfia body of air isconfined within the hollow interioror channel of the cleat, which willtend to prevent the collection and retention of moisture.

lVhile not so efiicient and desirable as the construction previouslydescribed, there is shown in'Figs. 6 and? a modified form of cleat orbatten, which is nailed directly through the exposed portion of theoverlapping roofing-strip. In this instance the batten consists'of astrip 17 of asphalt'and feltsimilar to the sheet roofingmaterial,

or other material of similar characteristics,

which stri is enclosed in a covering 18 of sheet metal the margins. ofwhich are downturned .or flanged over the enclosed strip 17 of yieldingmaterial and preferably clenched thereon as at 19. The metal armor orcasing' 18 is extended'atone end slightly be-' yond the yieldingcompressible strip 17 as shown at 20 forming a lip or ledge to overhangthe margin of the nextisucceeding roofing sheet. The opposite end ofthis form of cleat or batten maybe provided with an extended flexibletongue to be unclerturned or bent about the marginal edge of theparticular roofing sheet which it secures, as in the construction shownin F igs. 1, 2 and 3. Howeveninlieu thereof, the batten may terminateflush .w ith the secured roofing sheet, the armo'r or casing beingdown-turned over the edge of the yieldingcompressible.interior strips ofthe cleat as shown at 21; The roofing sheets being laid in superposedoverlapping relation the form of cleat shown in Figs. (Sand 7 is appliedat spaced 7 intervals with the lower end of the cleat flushwith thesecured sheet and the upper end of the cleat overlapping the succeedingroofing sheet as at 20, and the cleat or batten is secured in place bymus cs; driven directly through the cleat and underlying sheet ofroofing material.- The'i'nails 22 penetrate the armor or "casing and"the interior compressible ielding strip 17. "This strip 17 being ofmaterialof similar characteristics to'the; roofing will. conform closelyto' 'the nails 22 driven ther'ethrough, tending to seal the jointfornail hole and: prevent entrance of moisture. Furthermore, during warmsum mer-"weatlier, the" enclosed strip 17 and the roofing sheet will besufficiently softened to unite or adhere one to the other, thus afi'ording a further sealed joint.

The cl at s or battens being located inofiset spaced relation as beforedescribed,

separate the succ'eeding."roofing sheets into shingle 7 like sections,which gives to the roofwhen viewedf'roma distance the ap-- pe'arance ofa shingle roof, the/crevices between succeeding shingles of which arerep resentedby' the cleats or battens. 1 From the abovedescription itwill ap parent that there is thus provided 'a device of the characterdescribed possessing" the particular features of" a'dr'rantage' beforeenumerated as desirable, but which obviously is susceptible ofmodification in its 'form, proportions, detail "construction andarrangement of parts without departing from the principle involved orsacrificing; any of its advantages. 1

While in order to comply with the statute the invention hasbeendescribedinlanguage more or less specific as to" structuralfeatures, it isto be understood'that the invert tion is'-not limited tothe 'specific' details shown, but that the means and construction hereindisclosed comprises the preferred formofseveral modes of putting'theinvention into effect and the invention is,' tliere fore,*claimed in anyof its'formsor modifications within the legitimate and valid scolpe ofthe appended claims; I k r aving thus described my invention, I claim: I

- 1; The herein described "method of anchoring superposed overlappingroofing sheets, consisting in nailingto the portion of each'sheettojbeoverlapped by the succeeding sheet, a plurality of inverted stay cleats,superposing the succeeding roofing sheet over'the nailed portionsof thein verted cleats, bending the nailed cleats upon themselves to a reverseposition about the overlapping margin of the superposed roofing-sheet.whereby the reversed portions of the cleats will overlap the superposedroof ing sheet, nailing the free end of -such're versed portions tothefsuperposed sheet at a point removed fromthe margin of such sheet andin position to be overlapped by the succeeding roofin sheet these staycleats pertaining to succee ing roofing sheets being ofi'set in spacedrelation from those pertaining to preceding and succeeding roofingsheets. 2. The herein described method of anchoring superposedoverlapping roofing sheets consisting in enclosing the margins of theoverlapping portions of said sheets in the bights of hook shaped anchorcleats by securing one arm of the bight to the underlying roofing sheetand securing the other arm thereof to the overlying sheet in spacedrelation with the overlapping margin and in such position that the pointof attachmentwill be overlapped by the succeeding sheet, the anchorcleats pertaining to different roofing sheets being independent of eachother.

3. A roof comprising a plurality of superposed overlapping roofingsheets and hook shaped anchor cleats enclosing within their bights theoverlapping margins of the superposed sheets, with the underlyingportion of the bight secured to the overlapped sheet and the overlyingportion of the cleat secured tothe superposed sheet and overla ped bythe-succeeding sheet, such under ying portions of the anchor cleatsbeing of less thickness than the exposed intermediate portions thereof.Y

4. A roof comprising a succession of superposed overlapping roofingsheets and a pluralityof anchor cleats attached at one end beneath oneof said sheets and at their opposite ends beneath the succeedingsuperposed sheet, the attached portions of the cleat being of lessthickness than the intermediate portions, the reduced portions beingcovered and concealed by the overlapping portions of successive sheets.

5. A roof comprising a succession of superposedoverlapping roofingsections, and a plurality of inverted channel shaped anchorcleats-overlying the successive sections with their ends concealed andcovered by the overlapping portions of succeeding sections. I

6. The herein described method of applying sheet roofing, consisting inlaying a succession of superposed sections in overlapping relation,nailing a cleat through the first section beneath the overlappingportionof the second section, bending such cleat about the edge and over thetop of said second section, nailing the opposite end of the cleatthrough said second section, and superposing the third section .overthenailed second end of the cleat. v

' 7. The herein described method of applying sheet roofing, consistingin laying a succession of superposed sectionsin overlapping relation,and applying attachment cleats by securing their opposite ends beneaththe overlapping portion of succeeding sec tions whereby the points of.attachment are concealed and protected from Weather.

8. A roof structure comprising a succession of superposed overlappingroofing sheets and a plurality of cleats overlying each roofing sectionwith one end of such cleats underturned beneath the section overlayed bythe body of the cleat and the opposite end of the cleat extendingbeneath the next succeeding section of the series, said cleats beingsecured at their opposite ends.

9. As an artlcle of manufacture, a channel shaped roofing cleat havingflattened extremities.

. 10. As an article of manufacture, a roofing cleat comprising alongitudinally corrugated strip of material flattened at itsextremities.

- 11. As an article of manufacture, substan tiallystiif roofing cleatterminating in a flexible extension.

12. As an article of manufacture, a roofing cleat or the like,comprising a strip of sheet material, reinforced to resist bendingstrain throughout its medial portion, such rein forcement terminating inspaced relation with its ends whereby the ends of thestrip 15. A roofcomprising a succession of Sn perposed overlapping sheets, and'aplurality of anchor cleats extending at right angles to the margins ofthe superposed sheets at spaced intervals with their opposite endssecured beneath the overlapping portions of succeeding sheets, theexposed intermediate portions of the cleats being of increasedthickness, the anchor cleats pertaining to each sheet being offset inrelation With those of adjacent sheets giving to the roof the appearanceof comprising separate shingles.

16. A roof comprising a succession of superposed overlapping sheets anda plurality of anchor cleats overlyingIthe succeeding sheets and havingtransversely spaced contact engagement therewith at the margins of thecleats and fiat terminal extensions on saidcleat being concealed beneathsucceeding sheets. I

1 In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day ofJuly A. D. 1924.

TRUMAN M. SCARFF. 3

